


Nightmares of Deaths thats Never Happened

by KC_R



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Ghost is not having a good time, Grimm is dad and Ghost is baby, Nightmares, No Grimm and Ghost are not shippy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, even though none of this actually happened and they did everything right in this timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29177220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KC_R/pseuds/KC_R
Summary: The darkness of the Crystal Peaks opened up to bright, glowing crystals. They knew this place, had been here many times. They knew what awaited them not too far ahead; and they were ready to witness it again. The distance sobbing, begging for help that they had heard so many times before. The distant thuds and crashes of other victims of the Coliseum above.No… that wasn’t right.
Relationships: The Knight (Hollow Knight) & Everyone
Kudos: 56





	Nightmares of Deaths thats Never Happened

The darkness of the Crystal Peaks opened up to bright, glowing crystals. They knew this place, had been here many times. They knew what awaited them not too far ahead; and they were ready to witness it again. The distance sobbing, begging for help that they had heard so many times before. The distant thuds and crashes of other victims of the Coliseum above.

No… that wasn’t right. They shook their head and tried to focus, but instead they realized they were at the Blue Lake, trapped beneath the thick tension of the water. They pushed and shoved in an attempt to escape as they watched their dear friend Quirrel sit by the ocean. He got to his feet and began walking towards them, hopefully to help them, but instead he turned to ash the moment he touched the water, leaving only his nail embedded in the sand behind. They struggled more as they felt a force pulling them down towards the deep, never ending darkness below. No! They don’t want to die!

They were sucked down and into a tunnel, crashing into one of the secret rooms of the Tower of Love. Many jars lay around the room, grubs and nobles and other weak bugs shoved inside and drowned in void, their corpses silently floating. And then there was the jar in front of them, slightly tilted back and with a familiar face staring at them in terror. Quirrel, once again, void peeking out from the holes in their mask, their eyes turned black and their limbs shriveled and soulless. They tried to save him, they really did! They didn’t know he was here until he was long dead, there was nothing they could have done.

Perhaps they could have stayed at the Blue Lake longer?

No, they weren’t here either. They slammed their fists against their mask in hopes of fixing their head. 

They were back at the Crystal Peaks, the bangs of pickaxes against crystals echoing. Someone was crying, still. They knew who it was but they didn’t have the strength to go look. Their feet moved without their input, dragging them towards the sight they knew they’d see. 

Myla was laying on the floor, gut cut open, intestines hanging from her wound, crying for help, infected tears leaking from her eyes like the rain from the Capital. 

“Why did you do this to me? I thought I could trust you! I thought you loved me!” She cried, despite her body being very much rotten and broken. They wanted to cry, wanted to tell her that they didn’t mean to, that she was doomed, that she was still part of their family and they still loved her. “You’re lying. You don’t care about me. You could have saved me like you did Myla, but instead you struck me down. What kind of family kills each other?” She hissed, malice on her tongue.

They held their head, pulled on their horns in hopes of breaking their mask in two, covering their eyes to stop the downpour of tears, to stop her screams of agony as they cut her down.

They weren’t here, they were at the Kingdom’s Edge, heading down to explore the lands below the Coliseum once more. This is where the crying was, Myla had never cried to them in pain, she had died instantly. Tiso, however, was quietly crying in anguish, begging for help from anyone nearby.

“Squib! Pale Squib! Please help me, I can’t walk Squib please!” He cried out. Ghost rushed to his side, panicked and terrified. His shell was split clean in two, the shards stabbing into his flesh to the point that they could see the ground beneath him. There was so much blood, so much missing flesh from where something had crushed him. His left arm and both of his legs were bent in so many places, and his neck was almost completely broken off. “Please, I don’t want to die here, please please please. You can help me! I know you can, you can heal people! You can save me! Please it hurts so much, I can barely breathe, everything hurts please oh gods please.” He cried, pulling at Ghost’s cloak in some feeble attempt to get them closer. They weren’t strong enough to carry him, there was nothing they could do. They had used all of their soul on healing earlier, their shell clean of imperfections while their friend’s was broken to the point that there was more exposed flesh then there was shell.

They were at the Coliseum, a few feet away from the decapitated head of the Pale Lurker. They just wanted her key! They hadn’t meant to kill her, they just got impatient! God Tamer was staggering away from them, a large hole in their chest dripping with soul and void from their powerful spell. Both girls were dead, they barely knew them but they still felt bad. The cries of terror from God Tamer’s beast, who kept fighting until they cut them down as well. The gasps of horror, followed by cheers, from the crowd. This isn’t what they wanted! They just wanted everyone to live!

Next thing they knew, the path out of the Coliseum was shifting into the Gazebo from their mother’s gardens. They felt something wet on their feet, and looked down to see the corpses of Cloth and the Traitor Lord. He was unforgivable, he had killed his daughter, even if he was infected, even though he wasn’t in control, even though he had to watch as someone else moved his own arms to cleave his only daughter in two... maybe he was forgivable. Maybe they had more innocent blood on their hands. Cloth had died the way she wanted, surely she was happy. But they could have prevented this! They could have saved her and brought her into their family! The Traitor Lord could be alive, he could know that it wasn’t his fault that the Radiance twisted his mind and actions and made him do the unthinkable! Instead there was more blood on their hands and corpses at their feet.

They were at the Howling Cliffs, searching for something, some secret alcove that they knew was here. Instead they found blood, so much blood that told them instantly that whoever was here was dead. They followed the trail only to find tiktiks and vengflies chewing on the corpse of Bretta, a nail only a few feet away from her. She had a look of horror on her face. They could have stopped her from leaving, could have just let her be happy in her obsession with Zote, but jealousy made them drive her away. They clawed at their eye holes in some hope of tearing them out, so they wouldn’t have to see any of this again. 

They were at the Beast’s Den now. Hornet was crouched over her mother’s plinth, tears falling from her eyes and onto where her mother once lay, dead and long gone, cold and lonely. “Why? Why did you do it if you knew there was another way? You could have saved her! She could still be alive but you were selfish! What did you gain from it you spoiled brat? Did you think it would help you? Did you think it would help me? Did you really think I’d care about you after you murdered my mother? I hate you! Hollow hates you! Gods dammit, everyone in this entire kingdom hates you! You’ve ruined everything that could have been good! And you knew you could have done things better, you knew there was another way and yet you didn’t do it, you let us suffer again.” She collapsed onto the plinth, and then they felt a hand wrap around their neck.

They were in the Black Egg now. 

“Twin, you should have been the one, you should have tried harder to be here.” Hollow cried through the void. “You knew I couldn’t do it, you knew it and you let me do it, you could have stopped me, you could have saved me but you let me die because you were too weak.” They were crying so much, their head hurt and they could barely breathe. The Hollow Knight raised their blade over their head, preparing to slice them in two, and then they exploded into smoke. 

Everything was burnt away by the raging inferno, leaving them floating in nothing until the ground rushed up to meet them. 

“That was all quite disturbing, my little friend.” A familiar, smokey voice called out. “These events didn’t even happen and yet you can’t stop blaming yourself for them.” There was genuine remorse and sadness behind Grimm’s voice, like he cared about them.

“What do you want? Leave me alone, I want to be alone.” They growled through their mind.

“You’ve been alone long enough, my friend. People are starting to get worried about you. Your family is still alive here, remember? You pulled Myla away from the caves before it was too late, you spared the Dreamers, you dragged Hornet to where you knew Tiso would fall, when Quirrel disappeared from the lake you quickly found him in the Tower of Love, you took Cloth to Mato so she would realize there was more to life. Hells, you even saved your broken sibling deep in the Basin, you’ve done everything you can, dear friend, you’ve done it as best as you can.” He cooed, wrapping warm wings around Ghost’s small form. 

“How’s my child, by the way. I haven’t been able to talk to him in quite a while, I think I made him mad.” Grimm asked. 

“They are good. They have made friends and go to bed on time.” Ghost answered quietly, a hushed whisper. They felt their shell melting away, allowing them to face Grimm as the horror they really are, so he could know that they were dangerous and un-loveable.

“You can’t scare me out of telling you the truth. You’ve suffered so much, you deserve some peaceful rest.” Grimm said, gently rubbing the void between their horns.

“I don’t want more nightmares. I don’t want to see them die again, I’ve seen it too many times before.” They cried. Grimm pulled them closer and pressed a light kiss against their forehead. 

“A spell of protection, child. To keep the nightmares and darkness at bay. You can stay here as long as you’d like, but you need to return home soon. Everyone misses you so much.” He whispered as Ghost drifted to sleep. They managed a nod before silently drifting away in Grimm’s protective embrace. Everything would be alright, it was over, they were safe.


End file.
